Carolyn Collins Petersen, Author at Universe Today

February 10, 2024February 10, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Webb Can Directly Test One Theory for Dark Matter

Stephan's Quintet of galaxies as seen by JWST. The telescope could provide sharp views of even more distant galaxies that could help solve part of the dark matter mystery in galaxy formation. Courtesy: JWST.

What is it about galaxies and dark matter? Most, if not all galaxies are surrounded by halos of this mysterious, unknown, but ubiquitous material. And, it also played a role in galaxy formation. The nature of that role is something astronomers are still figuring out. Today, they’re searching the infant Universe, looking for the tiniest, brightest galaxies. That’s because they could help tell the tale of dark matter’s role in galactic creation.

February 7, 2024February 7, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

How Does the Cosmic Web Drive Galaxy Evolution?

A computer simulation of what gas and stars in a galaxy cluster look like, and how they look embedded in the cosmic web. The assembly of galaxy clusters has implications for the clumpiness of the Universe throughout time. Credit: Yannick Bahé.

Galaxies experience a long strange trip through the cosmic web as they grow and evolve. It turns out that the neighborhoods they spend time in on the journey change their evolution, and that affects their star formation activity and alters their gas content.

February 5, 2024February 5, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

NASA is One Step Closer to Deploying Fission Reactors on the Moon

An artist's concept of possible nuclear fission reactors on the Moon. Credit: NASA

What’s the most important thing you need to live and work on the Moon? Power. For NASA’s upcoming Artemis program, getting power to lunar bases is a top priority. That’s why the agency created its Fission Surface Power Project. The idea is to develop concepts for a small nuclear fission reactor to generate electricity on the lunar surface.

February 2, 2024February 2, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Half the Entire Sky, Seen in X-Rays

This image show half of the X-ray sky, projected onto a circle with the center of the Milky Way on the left and the galactic plane running horizontally. Photons have been colour-coded according to their energy (red for energies 0.3-0.6 keV, green for 0.6-1 keV, blue for 1-2.3 keV). Credit: MPE, J. Sanders for the eROSITA consortium

There’s an old trope in science fiction about someone suddenly getting X-ray vision and looking through solid objects. It turns out to be a physical impossibility with our Mark I eyeballs. However, astronomers have found a way around that challenge that lets us study the Universe with X-ray vision.

January 30, 2024January 30, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

The Aftermath of a Recent Galactic Merger

The Gemini South telescope view of NGC 4753, a peculiar galaxy thought to have experienced a galactic merger. Courtesy International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

NGC 4753 is a prime example of what happens after a galactic merger. It looks like a twisted mess, with dust lanes looping around the massive galactic nucleus. Astronomers long wondered what happened to this galaxy, and with a sharp new image created by the Gemini South telescope, they can finally explain its tortured past.

January 29, 2024January 29, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

The Space-Based Gravitational Wave Observatory LISA Gets the Green Light

An artist's concept of how LISA will work to detect gravitational waves from orbit in space. Courtesy ESA.

The science of studying gravitational waves just got a big boost thanks to the European Space Agency. Its science program committee just approved the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna—affectionately known as LISA—for official planning and building. That means gravitational wave astronomers will take their next steps to capture information about gravity waves from space.

January 29, 2024January 29, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

NASA Gives us an Update on its Long-term Plans for the Moon and Mars

NASA's plans for exploration of the Moon and Mars are a unified architecture covering all mission, crew, and technology contigencies. Image courtesy NASA.

Going to Mars is a major step in space exploration. It’s not a quick jaunt nor will it be easy to accomplish. The trip is already in the planning stages, and there’s a good chance it’ll happen in the next decade or so. That’s why NASA and other agencies have detailed mission scenarios in place, starting with trips to the Moon. Recently, NASA updated its “Moon to Mars Architecture” documents, including a closer look at some key decisions about Mars exploration.

January 26, 2024January 26, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

The Moon is Still Shrinking, Explaining Why it Still Has Landslides

Artemis mission landing locations near the South Pole of the Moon. Blue boxes indicate selected landing spots, while small red marks are locations of scarps caused by moonquakes. Credit: NASA/ LRO/ LROC/ASU/ Smithsonian Institution

Although our Moon formed 4.5 billion years ago, it’s still evolving. The interior continues to cool and its orbit is slowly changing. As a result, the Moon has lost 150 feet of its circumference. That shrinkage contributes to near-constant moonquakes, and those trigger landslides and other surface changes. The Moon is currently uninhabited, but all that activity threatens future Artemis landing sites and missions at the South Pole.

January 22, 2024January 22, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

This is the Oldest Black Hole Ever Seen

A view of the galaxy GN-z11, which harbors the oldest known black hole in the Universe. Courtesy: NASA, ESA, and P. Oesch (Yale University)

There’s an incredibly ancient black hole out there that’s challenging astronomers to explain how it could exist only 400 million years after the Big Bang. It’s at the heart of a galaxy called GN-z11. Astronomers using JWST saw evidence of it gobbling up that galaxy, which is one way a black hole can grow.

January 19, 2024January 19, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Diamond Rain on Ice Giants Could Influence Their Magnetic Fields

Scientists created a model to explain how diamond rain falls inside Uranus and Neptune and messes with their magnetic fields. Courtesy SLAC.

Imagine Jupiter with a diamond core the size of Earth. That’s what science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke described in his novel (and movie) 2010: Odyssey 2. Now, imagine the same thing, but at Uranus and Neptune. In addition to a possible diamond core, diamond rain fills the interior. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory think they know how these diamonds form on ice-giant planets.